Pastoralism has long been regarded as a difficult subject matter for archaeology, particularly in eastern Africa.
It is early morning on 8 December 2016 and my driver, Dennis, and I are leaving Nanyuki and heading to the field. It’s a perfectly clear morning. We are lucky to catch a glimpse of majestic Mount Kenya, a rather rare happening during the short rains.
The nocturnal carnivore genus Genetta comprises 14 species, of which three are known to occur in Kenya.
A previous blog on Lolldaiga.com (The Archaeo-Ecology of East African Pastoralism, 16 April 2015) described my work on the archaeological site of Maili Sita on northern Lolldaiga Hills Ranch. The site, radiocarbon-dated to between 1500 and 1700 AD, sits atop a low col crossing Six-Mile Ridge and is marked by an expanse of open grassland surrounded by acacia thicket.
Laikipia County, ca. 9,700 km², probably holds the highest diversity of larger mammal species of any region of its size in the world. Most of Laikipia County is covered by the Laikipia Plateau (ca. 1,600–2,400 m asl), an area composed of a mix of flat ground, undulating plains, rolling hills, steep hills, and scattered granitic inselbergs (or ’kopjes’).
